Losing That Baby Weight!

Last night I helped a friend with a jewelry show. I love talking to people and meeting people, so striking up conversations and sharing how much I enjoy wearing Silpada Jewelry wasn’t tough to do. The hostess had a great turn-out of friends from all areas of her life. A couple of her friends were obviously ladies she had met at the gym. They were toned and beautiful and you could just tell that being in the gym was a part of their lives. We started talking about weight loss and working out. I shared that I’ve recently lost some very stubborn baby-weight and that now it’s time to get to the gym and start a good routine of working out.

In the course of the conversation, the number of children I have came up. This is always a conversation turner! The minute someone asks, “How many children do you have?” and I respond with, “nine”, the conversation takes on a whole new life! Last night was no different!

To make a long story a little shorter; we ended up at a point where I was being encouraged to share the fact that I have lost 30 lbs. with my readers and listeners. The funny thing is that I never thought of it! Sometimes I completely forget to mention things that are going on over here! Anyway……………

After my first 5 kiddos I lost the baby weight very easily. It seemed that my body was in a good routine of pregnancy and then bouncing back. After Maddi (our 5th child) we had a miscarriage . It was really hard on both of us and I ultimately went on antidepressants to counter the effects. I stayed on the medication for about 4 years. In the first year I gained about 30 lbs! The weight went on SO quickly! I got pregnant with Tristan (our 6th) about 10 or 11 months after starting the medication. Tristan is now 9 yrs. old and I swear I’ve been carrying that weight ever since! It’s been a source of frustration for me for all these years. Of course, I had 3 more children after Tristan, but I felt that through diet and exercise the weight should come off, just like it had with the first 5 kids. It didn’t happen!

Fast forward to this year. Now, Luke-Xavier is two and I started making a real effort to drop some of the weight at the beginning of this year. I felt overwhelmed with the amount of weight I felt needed to be lost, so I decided to just focus on a goal of 10 lbs. Between January and March I was able to achieve that goal. It felt GREAT to finally see a different number on the scale! I decided to keep that same goal in mind and to see if I could do it again. To be honest, I was able to lose about 5 more lbs between May and June, but nothing else was happening. Then in July I stopped nursing Luke-Xavier. He had turned 2 yrs. old in April and was still a really strong nurser. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to keep nursing for life! I finally dug my heels in and weened him. Within weeks of weening I began to lose more weight. Ultimately between the end of July and the end of Sept. I was able to drop 20 lbs. without much effort.

Some of the things that helped me FINALLY lose this weight are;

I stopped snacking
I cut my portions and never have a second helping
If I’m eating something and one or more of the kids ask for a bite, I say yes. I’ve found that I can eat anything I want as long as I share it! Imagine eating a candy bar or ice cream in this house! As soon as the kids see it they flock around me like ducks to bread crumbs. In the end I end up with a bite or two. Perfect! I think that’s my favorite tip!

So, I still have 10 or 15 lbs that I’d like to lose, but it’s really time to think about exercise. I’m in no hurry to lose the last of the weight since I’m still breaking in the new clothes I’ve bought or been handed. But adding a daily walk or some time at the YMCA will surely help me tone up.

I’ll keep you posted!

Have a great day~

This entry was posted on November 18, 2008 at 10:10 am and is filed under baby, children, family life, frustrating, kids, mom, sharing, weight loss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.